The invention relates generally to devices for treating photopolymer articles, and relates specifically to an apparatus for and method of treating the surface of a photopolymer article to remove tacky portions therefrom.
In processing a photopolymer article, such as a photopolymer printing plate, oxygen is abundant at the surface thereof, which inhibits cross-linking reaction.
The uncross-linked sites create tacky portions on the surface of the photo-polymer article.
Such tacky portions of the surface result in difficulty in storage of the photopolymer article, as such portions of the surface pick up foreign substances, and change the characteristics of the surface of the photopolymer article in use, interfering with operation thereof.
Presently, devices for treating photopolymer articles utilize a bleach, to which hydrochloric acid is added to react therewith, to lower the pH thereof, and to generate chlorine, which chlorine reacts with the tacky portions of the surface of the photopolymer article to remove the tacky surface.
In operating such devices, the operator is handling dangerous chemicals, and subsequently producing toxic lethal chemicals. The active chemical produced lasts a relatively short time, and the concentration of such active chemical is continually changing. Such treatment of the surface of photopolymer articles is therefore dangerous to the operator, and the time and concentration dependence and variability thereof makes such devices highly inefficient and ineffective.